Domain Name Basics: An Introduction

It's amazing how we take things for granted. Take domain names, for instance. Most people know what they are but few understand all of the details involved. These usually do not become evident until a domain name is needed for a Web site.

A domain name is basically a Web site address. For example, "washingtonpost.com" is the address of the Washington Post Web site; it's also the site's domain name.
Note: The entire Web address, i.e., http://www.washingtonpost.com, is known as the URL (Uniform Resource Locator).

There are three "levels" of domain names. The first level, described in detail below, is the "extension" part of the name, i.e. ".com." The second level would be "washingtonpost.com." The third level would be "www.washingtonpost.com."